Book: Dear Jon (Choisie Series #3)

Author: Lori L. Otto

Released: August 2014

A summer with his family in Utah is all Jon Scott needs to pull himself together. It’s time to focus on his mom’s sobriety and the continuing education of his two younger brothers, Will and Max. For once, things seem to be on track with that part of his life. For the first time, he sees real hope for his family.

This family time is a much-needed distraction from the relationship he walked away from in Manhattan. Livvy Holland, the girl he’s loved since they were children, has let him down for the last time. He doesn’t want to waste his time dwelling on the fight they had, or the shocking incident that happened the next day, after her graduation. It’s something he’ll never forget, or forgive.

Things never go as Jon plans, though. Despite her actions and a distance of two thousand miles, Livvy has every intention of keeping Jon’s attention throughout the summer with a series of 30 letters: three a week for every week he’s gone. He doesn’t have to read them; there are times when he simply doesn’t want to. He has plenty of things keeping him busy: a job that requires long hours, family friends that come over for parties, brothers that ask too many questions, and a girl that’s very unlike anyone Jon’s dated before.

But there’s something about Livvy Holland that keeps drawing him back to her. Reading the letters will either break the ties, or eventually reunite them. His brain wants one thing; his heart wants another.

By the end of the summer, Jon will return to Manhattan. He’s come to terms with his past. He has a bright future. Back at Columbia, though, he must accept choices Livvy has made without him that will change his present plans.

“You wear my ring because you love me. You devote every Saturday night to me because you love me. You answer my calls every day because you love me. Why do you want me?”

“I don’t… I don’t think I understand.”

“Here’s what I want. I want to trail my fingers down the length of your naked body and feel the excitement they leave in their wake.”

I look around quickly, grateful that he’s not speaking too loudly.

“I want to smell the perfume you wear as I nip at your earlobe and whisper things to you I’m too afraid to say when I’m not inebriated by your very presence.”

I can’t believe he’s saying these things to me right here, in the light of day, as if he’s telling me about his classes or what color shoes he decided to wear today.

“I want to hear you pronounce my name with such desperation, supplicating me for more – deeper, slower – like you can’t get enough of me even though you’re holding me so tightly you leave marks on my skin that take days to disappear and underscore the words forever inscribed on my shoulder blade–”

“I’m sorry–” He interrupts my interruption with a surprising kiss, his hand supporting my neck as his mouth moves hard and fast against mine. I gasp when he pulls away, and my eyes are enraptured by the fervency of his gaze.

“I’m not,” he whispers, then shakes his head. “I want the taste of you…” He pauses and nods just so, making sure I fully understand what he’s implying. “…on my lips.”

“Jon!” I nearly shriek, taken aback by his brazenness and indelicate suggestion. Oddly enough, though, I’ve never been more attracted to him than I am in this moment. He laughs at my response.

“And I want to make you blush, just like that.” He touches his thumb to the warm skin of my face. “To see the glow of tamarisk in your cheeks when you’re coming down. There’s not a prettier color in nature.”

I can say nothing, do nothing, except stare at him with my mouth agape.

“And do you want to know why I want these things?”

It takes me a moment to realize he’s asked me a question, that he’s waiting for my answer. “Because you want me to be happy?”

“No.” Now both of his thumbs rub my temples as he stares lustfully at me, through me. My pulse is raging, and I can hear it in my ears and feel it coursing beneath my skin. “Because I’m a selfish man, and every one of those things rouses me and makes me want to take you in ways I never have — ways your virtuous mind has probably never even imagined. You engage me and provoke me and you drive me to the brink of insanity, and just when I think I’m gone, you save me, Olivia. A brush of your hand. A kiss. A whisper.”

This is by far one of the best alternate point of view books I have ever read. Not only did we get to be inside Jon Scott’s head, we got to see the transformation in Livvy through her poignant letters. This was not just a rehashing of the story told previously, but rather it was two separate stories of two lives that are completely intertwined.

As I reminisced with Jon through the words of Livvy’s letters, I had my own emotional experience that ranged from happy to sad and everything in between. At times, I was frustrated with Jon’s indifference. He was so consumed by the hurt of Livvy’s actions that he stubbornly refused to see what Livvy was trying to accomplish with her words. But I empathized with his anger towards her careless behavior and I admired his resolve to walk away.

I was so pleased to see Livvy mature and finally make some decisions with her own wellbeing in mind. I was also pleased to see Jon realize that his life will not be complete without Livvy. I just hope that their growth and maturity will eventually lead them back to one another. For now, they are where they need to be…apart…and learning how to live.

I am so anxious for the conclusion of Livvy’s story and yet I don’t want it to end. It’s been such a wonderful story and this book made me fall so much more in love with these characters. I am so invested in these characters, I don’t ever want their story to end.

The Choisie series is a Young Adult/New Adult story following a teenage girl as she struggles to find her footing under the scrutiny of local media and the cautious eye of her overprotective father.

Livvy Holland was adopted by a generous and wealthy couple as a child. Now sixteen, she is a burgeoning artist, encouraged by her mother and inspired by a man she was never able to meet. Feeling estranged from a loving father whose mind works much differently than her own, she questions whether or not she was paired with the right guardians. In her plight for independence, she reconnects with a fellow art student who grew up alongside Livvy.

Jon Scott has led anything but a privileged life. After his father passes away, he is left to care for his two half-brothers while his mother’s alcoholism threatens to tear his family apart. All he wants for himself and his brothers is a better life. His dreams for an Ivy League education are coming to fruition, thanks to a lifetime of hard work and ambition. This is not only important to Jon himself; he also knows that the man who will win Livvy’s heart has to be someone exceptional. Her father would accept nothing less–and Jon believes that Livvy deserves the best of everything, too.

That may be the only thing Jon and Livvy’s father agree upon.

Over the course of their courtship, these two teens will experience the bliss of true love, but their immaturity and differing lifestyles will also threaten to tear them apart. They both begin to question the other’s devotion and commitment; only time will tell if their first love is meant to last a lifetime.

This series, comprised in totality of four books, allows the reader to experience first love for a second time. The first three books–Contessa, Olivia, and Dear Jon–are available now, with the fourth book–Livvy–slated to be released December 9!

After graduating from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Lori Otto worked in the billboard industry for ten years. Frustrated with trying to communicate entire messages in “seven seconds or less,” she decided to leave outdoor advertising and return to her love of creative writing.

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